New York City is redeveloping Coney Island: reviving its historic identity as a world famous amusement and recreation destination. The recently completed redevelopment master plan identifies several Coney Island “Icons” as the key elements. The Parachute Jump and the New York Aquarium are two of these icons and together they anchor the two ends of the Coney Island Boardwalk. Prior to the creation of the redevelopment master plan, the Wildlife Conservation Society, working with an exhibit design firm, had developed a design for a new shark exhibit building at the Aquarium. Because of the building’s location on the boardwalk, the Coney Island development Corporation and the New York Economic Development Corporation requested that the Aquarium hire a design firm to redesign the proposed structure to be the iconic marker for the aquarium on the boardwalk. Our firm was selected from a shortlist and RFP process.
Our charge was to work with the exhibit design firm to create three alternative schemes for the shark tank building. The three schemes represent three levels of departure from the completed proposal. Scheme 1 was a re-skinning of the completed design. Scheme 2 kept the completed interior but reconfigured the exterior massing and materials. Scheme 3 was a complete redesign of the entire building and exhibits.
The enclosed material begins with the overall concepts used in the development of all three schemes (Concept). The middle portion of the booklet (Process) documents several alternatives that were presented as Scheme 3 options during the design process leading up to the selected scheme. We only included documentation of Scheme 1 and 2 elements that overlapped with the final selected scheme. In the last section of the booklet (Project), we document the final selected design, which is a complete redesign of the building and exhibits. In addition to the Shark Tank, the final scheme expands the exhibit programs to include a sea lion exhibit and an aviary. This project is in the process of financial review and funding by the City of New York, the Coney Island Development Corporation and the Wildlife Conservation Society.
